Roddick Serves up Tirade Against 'Man Bags'
LONDON, June 28, 2006 — -- Andy Roddick has top-ranked Roger Federer standing between him and the famous silver gilt cup and the $1.2 million cash prize at Wimbledon this month.
If Roddick, considered the best U.S. player at Wimbledon this year, makes it to the finals and is victorious on Centre Court, where is he going to stow his wad of cash?
The tennis star recently lashed out on his Web site against the trend of donning "man bags."
"I have seen some guys walking around with man purses here in London," Roddick wrote earlier this month.
"Anything bigger than a money clip or a wallet is to be left to your girlfriend/wife … and just so we are clear you should not be able to throw your 'wallet' over a shoulder … if you have a man purse, the wall is waiting."
Surely he should be investing in a trendy man bag this season in anticipation of being this year's Wimbledon men's champion.
After all, the women will not be needing as much room to stow their prize money because Serena and Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport's demand for equal pay fell flat on its face. The women's winner will get $70,000 less than her male counterpart.
Roddick's anti-man purse stand may be further evidence of a stateside backlash against metrosexual fashion.
Britons, however, have wholeheartedly embraced this style accessory, which many insist won't strip away an ounce of your masculinity.
Shane Corstorphine, director of metrosexual.co.uk, an online male grooming and fashion retailer, says the bags are the perfect solution for men who need to carry more gadgets like iPods, phones, BlackBerrys and wallets.
"The male grooming regime may have come from across the pond, but we take our lead from Europeans for fashion," Corstorphine said. He confidently predicts the soft-leather man bag will be the must-have item in 2007.
Daily Telegraph fashion editor Hilary Alexander concurs.
"As long as it's not small and pink, and dangling from your wrist, it's perfectly OK," she said. "Rugged, chunky leather man bags are sensible, as putting too much into your pockets spoils the cut of your trousers."
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